Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. See our User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. See our Privacy Policy and User Agreement for details.

Evaluation Question 1

1.
By deconstructing existing music videos, we were able to analyse whatconventions worked and what didn’t. It made me realise that in order to createa successful media product, I needed to follow the essential conventions thatpeople recognise.In our research, we found that music videos can be categorized in terms ofstyle:• Performance – Band/ artist playing.• Narrative – Includes story.• Mixture – Both performance and narrative based.• Cameo – Band/ artist features in the narrative but doesn’t perform.After watching and deconstructing Taylor Swift’s video,‘Mine’ (mixture),Rihanna’s video, ‘We found love’ (mixture), andBenjamin Francis Leftwich’s video, ‘Atlas Hands’ (cameo), we decided that wewanted to use a narrative style in our music video, as this proved a successfulelement in all three videos.

2.
After deciding that we wanted to create a music video in the ‘romance’ genre, we looked at various real musicvideos within the same genre to gain an understanding of the codes and conventions used. Taylor Swift’s‘Mine’ and Rihanna’s ‘We found love’ present two very different relationships; one is more innocent and sweet,whilst the other is very destructive and dangerous. This is because they both target different audiences.

3.
Taylor Swift – ‘Mine’ Our video We used a close up of our female protagonist looking up at the male protagonist, showing an instant attraction. The prop of the romantic novel, ‘Birdsong’ connotes that the female character is an intelligent, hopeless romantic, foreshadowing the love that unfolds in the video’s narrative. This two shot is conventional of the romance genre because it clearly establishes the relationship between the two characters. We’ve included many two shots throughout the video for this reason. The proxemics of this shot also connote that the couple are in love because they are holding hands and smiling. Many scenes of our video are filmed at the beach, as we understood that this was a romantic location. When focusing on the mise-en-scene, we filmed many shots with the sea in view, as it connotes peace and nature, reflecting the love in the relationship. The natural lighting creates a sense of hope and happiness. The proxemics we used throughout the video clearly follow the conventions of a romance genre, with the couple kissing, hugging, holding hands, smiling, laughing etc. See more

4.
Taylor Swift – ‘Mine’ Our video In Taylor Swift’s video, a wedding ring is used to symbolise the unity of the couple. Similarly, we used the prop of a silver heart necklace to represent the love within the relationship. When the love deteriorates and comes to an end, the necklace is taken off symbolising that the love is over. To highlight the significance of this prop, we used extreme close ups. In the post-production stages of our project, we edited the video to have tones of blue and sepia towards the end of the narrative, when the couple are fighting. This connotes the sadness felt by the characters and ultimately the audience empathises with them further because of the colder, darker atmosphere. We’ve used POV shots to make the video more personal, and make the audience empathise more with the characters. These shots are used particularly in the montage sequence to create the impression that the couple are using a hand held camera, making memories, eg. on the beach the female protagonist is playfully running away from the camera and looking directly into it as if the male protagonist is filming her. In the same way Taylor Swift’s video uses photographs as a visual motif symbolising a collection of memories, we’ve used photographs in our video of the couple and have presented them in a scrapbook, creating a sense of nostalgia. These photos are included in the girl’s bedroom and at the end of the video when she puts them into a scrapbook.

5.
Male Protagonist We challenged the ‘alpha-male’ stereotype that’s often presented in romantic media texts and decided to make our male protagonist a quirky, intellectual, indie character; perhaps a more realistic portrayal of a modern teenager, as opposed to the typically good looking, over confident ‘alpha-male’ stereotype. We chose to do this because we wanted to make our male protagonist relatable to our target audience and provide a different take on the romantic genre. However, we decided to make our female protagonist fit into the ‘girl next door’ stereo- type, following a convention of the romance genre. EndingOne of the main criticisms of the romance genre is that it sets up unrealistic expectationsfor what life is really like. Taking this into account, Rachel and I wanted to subvert thetraditional ‘happily ever after’ ending and create a narrative that gives a realistic portrayalof young love. We wanted to make comparisons between the idealistic and modern-dayperceptions of love and relationships by portraying a couple who appear to be happily in love, however its not the perfectfairytale ending and the love fades. We showed this through the use of editing, camera work and props. The blue tonesconnote sadness as and a sense of loss as the relationship deteriorates, the close up of the girl crying shows her heartbreakand the necklace being taken off symbolises that the love is over. The scrapbook was a key prop, as it holds a collection ofmemories, representing the couple’s relationship. Our video ends with the girl placing the necklace into the scrapbook, asthat’s the last piece left of their relationship. She then closes the book, signifying that the love is over and she’s accepted it’stime to move on. The front cover of the scrapbook is our album cover ancillary, linking the products together, however wedecided to make the title word “forever” creating a sense of irony. This challenges the audience’s perceptions of love and theidea of a fairytale ending, which is what we wanted to achieve.